Marry Me
by cutekittenlady
Summary: Keith and Allura both want the same thing. But a bit of cultural miscommunication might make getting it a little difficult.


"Lance I don't think this is going to work."

"Oh c'mon of course it'll work! You got a ring, you've rehearsed the question, and even if you two have never actually used the word _dating_ you've been going steady for, like…" Lance paused as he did the math. "I dunno, a year? Hard to tell in space."

Keith didn't look up as he rolled a small circular trinket between his fingers.

"It's a wooden ring. I had to carve it myself."

"Hey it's acceptable! I mean it's not like there are a lot of Jared's out here."

"She doesn't know what dating _is_ Lance." Keith sighed as he clenched the ring in his hand. "Besides, isn't a year a bit soon?"

"Now you're just making up excuses!" Lance scolded. "I mean my cousin popped the question after like six months. Still together with two kids."

"Still, what if-"

The blue paladin finally lost his patience.

"Oh for the love of QUIZNAK Keith. Allura's not gonna bite your head off. The absolute worst she can do is say no!" Grabbing Keith by the shoulders, Lance whirled him around and began pushing him down the ship's hall. "Now you are gonna grab those flowers Hunk and Pidge found, take that little whittled ring you made, walk up to the princess's bedroom, and say exactly what I taught you to say!

Keith opened his mouth to speak.

"NO! I'm tired of having to watch you dance around the subject! It's bad enough that out of the four of us, the princess fell for the guy with absolutely no romantic sense. I'm not gonna stand around and be made to suffer the weight of the _'will they, won't they_ ' atmosphere! You are doing this, if not for yourself then for the sake of the rest of us knowing exactly where this drama stands!"

By the time Keith had wrapped his mind around what Lance had said, he'd already had a bouquet of odd looking alien flowers shoved into his arms and been shoved to the front of the princess's bedroom

Nervously glancing down the hall, Keith saw the other paladins barely hidden around the corner making various gestures and expression.

Lance was pointing meaningfully at the door.

Hunk was smirking like a madman. Cheeks pink, biting his lower lip, and generally looking like a teenage girl watching a cheesy romcom.

Shiro's eyes were soft and encouraging.

And Pidge… Pidge had a camera.

Keith let out a shaky breath. There was no running away now.

Slowly, shakily, he raised his hand-hesitated-and knocked.

Or he would have.

If it hadn't slid open right at that moment.

He froze.

Allura froze.

They both stared.

"Keith you're- I-I mean why are you-"

"Princess what are you-" he stopped as his eyes wandered slightly downward. "-wearing…?"

The outfit looked like something straight out of one of those renaissance fairs on earth. A long blue dress with numerous decorations all along the skirt and long white sleeves that draped long from her elbows. A bronze colored sash and a vest that had been meticulously embroidered with some kind of golden thread creating a beautiful floral display all along Allura's bust. All topped with some kind of veil bedazzled with blue gems, that draped over the princess's silver hair and hung over her shoulders and down her back.

It fitted Allura's form flatteringly.

Something they both must have been very much aware of as the princess hugged herself and blushed. Not quite out of embarrassment, but rather… shyness?

A very cute kind of shyness.

Allura looked down at the flowers in Keith's hand. "What are those for?"

It was Keith's turn to look shy.

"Ah… th-these are…" his mouth was already going dry as mind turned to fog. "A-are for… you."

He thrust the assortment of alien plants forward in such a rush that several petals fell to the floor.

Regardless, the princess smiled and gently took the bouquet and brought it to her chest. Her face practically melted into a gentle expression of pure bliss. "Thank you."

Keith's breath hitched.

Dear god she was beautiful. And not just in the way that made some men compare their ladies to a fresh spring morning in May. Allura was practically beauty incarnate.

The way her eyes could be so gentle with some people, but almost instantly sharpen when faced with an enemy. The way her mind could come up with a peaceful route of action in a moment, but then just as quickly piece together a battle plan to dismantle or completely eradicate an enemy.

Allura's beauty was one formed through hardship. A life that had seen both the most peaceful times, as well as the most brutal, and somehow managed to preserve a gentle and loving heart. A rare beauty that Keith was sure existed nowhere else in all the universe.

And then… there was him.

A raggedy, galran half-breed, garrison dropout whose only real saving graces were his piloting skills, fighting ability, and the fact that he was compatible with a giant red spacecat.

He didn't really consider himself a particularly charismatic person. Especially when compared to people like Lance, who seemed able to drift in and out of social situations as naturally as going in and out an open door.

And while he'd certainly managed to be in charge of the team for a while, Keith didn't feel like a very commanding person. Level headedness didn't come naturally to him. Not like it did Shiro.

Hell, he even lacked in something as essential as romance. Hunk could probably be as romantic as… as… as a very romantic person. Kindness and gentility practically defined the yellow paladin.

Keith wasn't used to feeling so self conscious. But he couldn't seem to help it. He looked at himself with his black unkempt hair and discount bin clothing. Then he looked at _her_ and the difference in quality just seemed to shine through.

What it was that she saw in him he didn't know. Keith couldn't really see himself as a proper suitor to an alien princess. There had to be someone in the universe more deserving of her than him.

All this went through his mind as he looked at her. The small wooden ring in his pocket now very heavy.

"So, what's the occasion?"

Keith blinked himself back into reality.

"What?"

Allura smiled knowingly at him.

"The flowers. You're not one to do things without reason. So," she repeated herself teasingly. "What's the occasion?"

The ring was like an anvil now.

"I-I-I…" Keith couldn't seem to form the right words. Still, he tried to sound as teasing as she did. If only to make up for his own nervousness. "I-I should be asking you that! That's not the kind of clothes you usually wear."

To his surprise, Allura demurred. Her eyes drifted shyly to the floor, refusing to meet his directly.

Some inner battle seemed to be going on behind Allura's cotton candy eyes. Finally, with a pointed glance down the hall to the corner the other paladins had hurriedly hidden behind, the princess pulled Keith into her bedroom. Closing and locking the door behind her.

Keith looked at the princess in surprise.

Allura seemed to fumble with something in her hands before turning around, her face flushed but determined.

"I've… I mean I'm not very good." she stammered. "B-but I've been practicing."

He looked at her in confusion. "Allura I don't know what you're-"

The princess's arms shot out in front him nearly as quickly as Keith had with the flowers.

"I-If," Allura stammered. "If you'd… take it?"

Keith moved his hand to take what she offered him, but the princess took his arm and slipped the item over his hand and onto his wrist.

It was a bracelet.

Or what Keith assumed to be a bracelet. It was made from some kind of metal warped into a sort of woven band embedded with green gemstones. Something that would look quite natural on the wrist of an altean nobleman.

Which was a long way of saying that it just looked off on Keith.

"Princess, why'd you give me this?"

But as he raised his head to look at her; Allura started dancing.

It was… interesting.

From the movements, Keith assumed that the dance was supposed to look graceful and beautiful. But seeing Allura do it… it was actually rather clumsy.

The princess was clearly an alright ballroom dancer. He'd seen her do it several times at parties. More than once he'd actually been her partner.

But in a solo dance, the princess couldn't seem to find her rhythm. Which resulted in a dance that looked like a waddling duck with two left feet.

Not that Keith would ever work up the nerve to tell Allura that.

As the dance came to an end, the princess finished and then looked at Keith expectantly. Her eyes filled with anticipation.

"That was…" he began trying to find a word that wouldn't be an outright lie. "Interesting."

"I-Is that a good thing?" she asked hesitantly.

Keith wasn't sure he could answer her.

"A…." her voice shook on the brink of breaking. "A bad thing?"

"I-I'm not sure." he admitted.

"Oh." Her face fell. "I-Is that a no then?"

"What?"

"To a proposition? Is it a no?"

"What proposition?"

Allura's eyes hardened.

"The one I just proposed! Why else would I dress up like this, and dance?!" she demanded angrily. "Now are you going to give me a straight answer or not?!"

Keith stared at her.

Slowly little bits and pieces started to form a blurry image in his mind.

"I think," he began. "That something's been lost in translation."

"Do I have to do the dance AGAIN?!"

"Wha-NO!" he said hurriedly as the princess prepared to begin again. "Allura, listen. I don't understand what you're doing!"

"What do you mean you don't-" she stopped short. Her eyes widened as though something hit her for the first time. "Oh… Oh right."

She sat down hard on the edge of her bed.

Keith carefully moved towards her. Concern written all over his face.

"I-I'm sorry." she gave a shaky chuckle. "I forgot. Quiznak, how could I forget?!"

Allura laughed, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Eventually she buried her face in her hands, attempting to hide her embarrassment.

"Allura," Keith bent down in front of her trying to make his voice as gentle as possible. "Allura, please don't be upset."

"I'm not upset!" she looked at him her eyes red. "I'm embarrassed! I can't believe I never thought about talking to one of the other's about this! You must think I looked like such a fool."

"I don't think I could ever think that about you."

She laughed and wiped her eyes. "Flatterer."

"I mean it." Keith said sternly taking both her hands. "Just… whatever it was you were trying to ask me. Just say it to my face. If at all possible."

The princess blushed again. "I-I… that is…"

Keith waited expectantly. He wasn't really known for his patience. But for Allura… he could probably wait for an eternity.

"I… I want… I want to _be_ with you." she whispered quietly.

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I want… I want to **BE** with you." The princess spoke much clearer and stronger than before. "I want to live with you! Have a ceremony!"

Keith stared.

"I-I don't know how else to say it!" she sighed exasperated. "I want us to… to grow old together. With each other. Here. O-or somewhere else."

His eyes filled with comprehension.

Allura… was proposing to him. The bracelet, the dance, it all had been part of what the Alteans considered a wedding proposal. Though they didn't have the same word for it.

Out of everyone in the whole of the universe. The princess, _his_ princess, was choosing **him**.

"I know it's selfish." she spoke suddenly. "I mean you have a planet to return to! Probably a whole life that was ripped away from you! Things left behind on earth that you want to return to."

Keith had to stop himself from laughing and the irony.

"B-but... Your life. I'd like to be a part of it." Allura added. "If you'll have me."

In answer, Keith took the princess's hand and slipped the little wooden ring onto her finger.

Allura stared down at it in confusion.

"On earth. This is one of the things we do. Instead of bracelets and dancing I mean."

At first, her face was filled with incomprehension. But then it morphed into shock. Then to joy.

She dove forward crying and laughing at the same time as she tackled Keith to the floor.

Back flat on the ground, Keith closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his laughing and crying fiance a joyful smile growing on his face.

He still didn't think he deserved her.

But if she really truly wanted him then… well...

He was prepared to be proven wrong.


End file.
